


The World Falls Apart (But We Can Fix It)

by NightFoliage



Series: Earthquake [1]
Category: Big Hero 6 (2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dystopia, Canonical Character Death, Earthquakes, Gen, Movie Spoilers, Pseudoscience, no sad endings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-01-08
Updated: 2015-04-02
Packaged: 2018-03-06 17:32:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,820
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3142805
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NightFoliage/pseuds/NightFoliage
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>[Dystopian Earthquake AU] </p><p>In 1922, a series of earthquakes devastated the earth, causing land to split apart along the fault lines. As a result, San Fransokyo became a part of a series of islands off of what was the coast of California. Unable to reach or communicate with the mainland, San Fransokyo and its inhabitants were forced to adapt.</p><p>Now, the year is 2035, where fourteen year old Hiro Hamada is bored out of his mind. Having already graduated from the Academy the year beforehand, Hiro has no desire to join an Institute. Sure, he would learn a trade that will later place him into a Sector. But really, what else could he learn? So, Hiro spends his days designing whatever the hell he wants and going to underground bot fights, wasting the days away until he is forced to join an Institute when he turns eighteen. </p><p>Meanwhile, Tadashi has his hands full trying to keep Hiro from getting caught by the Keepers, the Underground, and everyone else his younger brother annoyed. One day, the boy was going to get himself into a situation where Tadashi couldn’t save him. Hopefully, Tadashi’s project would be able to help Hiro when Tadashi wasn’t there... </p><p>Cross posted to FF dot net.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Beta Read - SpotlightAsagi and Shaitan Elnifi and Tohdoh
> 
> Chapter Date Published - 1/8/2015
> 
> Warnings - In general this fic should be rather light (with a rating similar to the movie). It’s a K+ rating mostly, maybe T because there is some language. However, this rating may change as the story progresses. 
> 
> Disclaimer - I’m very happy that Disney now owns Marvel and therefore Big Hero 6. If they didn’t, then such an amazing movie would not have come out. 
> 
> Pairings/Characters - No pairings as of yet. In general this fic is Hiro centric like the movie, and all the characters from the movie should show up. 
> 
> Spoilers - The beginning of the story will be mostly the movie rewritten. However, due to change in the world, some scenes will be different and the plot won’t follow the storyline of the movie for very long. Be aware, if you haven’t watched the movie, it contains some pretty big spoilers about the plot and the characters.

Prologue:

The first of the earthquakes hit Japan in the year 1893. 

The earthquake was devastating. It tore Japan apart and caused thousands of deaths. Many of the smaller islands were destroyed and the largest island, Honshu, was split in half. What wasn’t destroyed by the earthquake was ruined by the tsunamis that followed.

Many citizens of Japan had survived, but the land did not. 

Refugees flooded out of Japan and into the neighboring countries. As they left their homeland, countless promised to return and rebuild their country. 

However, their hardships had just begun. The sheer amount of refugees that needed to be evacuated and given new homes was unprecedented. Countries accepted as many as they could, but many countries held some bitterness at the forced amount of immigrants entering their borders. 

Until the San Francisco earthquake in 1906. 

Although this disaster did little damage to the land (especially in comparison to the one that destroyed Japan), an estimated three thousand people died and most of the buildings collapsed in the affected area. 

Miraculously though, some still stood. Specifically, the ones in and near the Japanese ghettos. As others would find out, the Japanese had been designing counter-earthquake architecture for their future Neo-Japan, and implemented as many methods as they could to their homes. As a result, their area suffered the least amount of damage.

With the designs from the Japanese engineers (and if rumours were to be believed, support from the yakuza), San Francisco made an unexpectedly swift recovery. The city honored these engineers by making the city more Japanese-esque and changing the name of the city to San Fransokyo, in memory of the still desolate Japan. 

For years, most of the world forgot about these earthquakes, calling them “tragedies,” and “unfortunate events,” as if they hadn’t happened recently. 

The Japanese never forgot and neither did the inhabitants of San Fransokyo. They pushed their architecture further and further, improving anything they could. And when they couldn’t? They drilled the desire to improve into the children, who would later take the mantle. In the subsequent years, San Fransokyo became a leader in innovation, both in the United States and in the world. 

Then, the world fell apart. 

-000-

For San Fransokyo, it was Tuesday, March 21st, 1922, the day of the Spring Equinox.

It started with a rumble, soft and insignificant, except this rumble didn’t stop. The ground kept moving, and the rumbling ever so slowly grew in intensity. The shaking intensified and the ground began to split around the fault lines. It was happening again. What was once thought to be a freak incident in Japan was now occurring all over the world.

Except this time, instead of a series of islands being destroyed, all the large land masses were affected. The earth spread apart in huge chasms. 

In California, the San Andreas fault line would cause most of the coast to separate from the mainland and the resulting gaping maw in the ground would be quickly filled by the waiting ocean. This and the subsequent aftershocks would further damage the coast, changing it into a line of islands. While a lot of people were killed by the crumbling land and its aftereffects, many survived by sheer luck of their environment. The areas that were mostly farmland, flat and without any excess that would collapse on people. Others lived on land held together by the deep rooted trees and vegetation.

In some cases, it wasn’t luck at all. Out of all the islands on the new California Archipelago, San Fransokyo’s city suffered the least amount of damage. In fact, it had suffered little to no damage from the earthquake. However, the separation had knocked out most forms of communication within the island, let alone to the mainland. 

Unfortunately, while San Fransokyo had done its best to prepare for earthquakes, it was less prepared for the apocalyptic weather that followed. Rarely a dry day passed after the earthquakes. As hurricanes and storms whipped the sky and the sea into a frenzy, the city lit up with flashes from lightning strikes. Every day it was buffeted by harsh winds and tall ocean waves. As San Fransokyo endured, it was clear that there would be no traveling to the mainland. And as time passed, they accepted that there would be no help coming for them. 

Rather than giving in, they started adapting, pushing their resources and intellect into creating a life for themselves in this harsh new. Those with leadership, intelligence, and most importantly, the will to improve their god-forsaken lives, quickly rose to power. The San Fransokyians had to throw out a lot of their old rules (some of them gladly) and their society morphed quickly. 

The end result was unusual, but not unexpected. San Fransokyo became the center of innovation amongst the islands. They were the main source of energy and technology, thanks to lightning rods that drew off energy from the storms. They also developed barriers to filter out the elements. However, their lack of agricultural land made them unable to sustain themselves. Thankfully travel, while dangerous, was still a possibility between the islands, and the islands became reliant on each other for different resources.

Once trade was established, San Fransokyo fell into a state where invention and the pursuit of knowledge became more frenzied than it was before the earthquake. 

They changes schools, creating the Academy, which pushed students toward the right job that would later become their life. After that came the Institutes, where graduates worked in order to showcase their ability to excel in their chosen field. Finally, at the end of their Institutes days, they would apply to a Sector, each one dedicated to the improvement and betterment of an aspect of San Fransokyo life.

This system created intellectual and charismatic powerhouses and made sure that the stars and future leaders of San Fransokyo were propelled into their proper place. And those who couldn’t keep up? The ones who fell when they couldn’t climb as high as society wanted them to? They were snatched away by other islands or the Underground. And, if rumours were to be believed, a Resistance that wanted to rebel against the system. 

But rumours were rumours, and the normal people of San Fransokyo kept their eyes on the future, not noticing when any of their falling brethren failed to meet the system standards. 

So what could make the everyday people of San Fransokyo take notice? It would have to be someone who was beyond the system; bright and flexible, someone smarter than the system could have anticipated. Someone, who had to have a good reason to change the status quo.

Until that day arrived, life in San Fransokyo would remain the same. 

-000-

Now:

“What were you THINKING, knucklehead! You’re going to get yourself arrested or worse!”

“Well big brother, I was thinking that I could win big in bot fighting. _And I did_!”

“Oh yeah? And how were you going to stop yourself from getting beat up by the Underground, who, by the way, are chasing us right NOW!” Tadashi couldn’t help but bellow out the last word, even though it did nothing to help the situation. If anything, it just made him more out of breath and alerted Yama and his followers to the brothers’ position. 

“Aww, we can outrun them,” Hiro said, even though he too, sounded like he was getting winded. “By the way, some rescue operation on your part. Although I have to admit, the flashbang was impressive. I didn’t know you had it in you” 

“Just keep running unless you have any bright ideas, genius,” Tadashi snarked right back. 

And despite the admittedly life threatening situation, they managed to share a smile. 

Which disappeared, as they rounded a corner straight into a ten foot tall wall. 

“Oh no,” Hiro said. The sounds from Yama and his men were suddenly closer than he thought. 

“Come on,” Hiro felt Tadashi tug on the neck of his jumpsuit and then he was unceremoniously shoved towards a small alleyway he hadn’t noticed before, since the opening was a little less than a foot wide and barely kept two buildings from touching each other. Hiro got the idea, tucking Megabot into his jumpsuit, then turned sideways to shuffle along the narrow path. Tadashi quickly did the same, but it was a bit of a squeeze.

“At least Yama can’t follow us now.” Hiro said as they slowly shuffled their way to the other side.

Tadashi groaned, “Really? That’s- okay, yeah, I thought the same thing,” he admitted. “Even I’m having some trouble here.” Tadashi started, before stopping that train of thought. He did not want to jinx himself when they were only half way through. 

“I’m not surprised, I mean all those hours sitting on your butt at the nerd Institute must not be helping.” Despite the tight space, Hiro managed to turn his head to look at his brother. “Is that why your jumpsuit is a slimming black?” Hiro couldn’t resist pointing out. Even though everyone wore the same pseudo-one piece outfits, his brother’s usual colors tended towards what Hiro thought was bland; soft pastel earthy tones with little to no patterns. 

“You shouldn’t be jealous baby brother, your clothes are turning into a flattering shade of black via alleyway. Aunt Cass is going to love it.” Tadashi said, making Hiro look down at his, admittedly, filthy clothes. It was one of his favorites too, a (formerly) white hand me down jumpsuit from Tadashi that he had just started to properly grow into. His hand brushed against his pants, feeling the paint from the red and black lines he and his brother had painstakingly worked on. While Hiro paused to mourn his favorite outfit, Tadashi stepped closer and gave him a shove out of the narrow alleyway. 

“HEY!”

It was not a moment too soon, Yama and his men caught up just as Tadashi managed to wriggle out into the open. His lackeys started to shuffle into the tight space after them, while Yama yelled profanities at the retreating Hamada brothers, clearly unable to follow. 

“Ha!” Hiro couldn’t help but laugh, there was no way they were going to catch up to them now. He didn’t notice that Tadashi was staring in a different direction.

“We have to keep moving.” Tadashi said, pushing Hiro forward. 

“What?” Hiro followed Tadashi’s gaze. “She’s a Fighting Fujita? That explains a lot.” A group led by a familiar one-eyed woman, ran towards them. However, instead of holding a decorative umbrella for bot fights, the umbrella she wielded clearly had a knife at the tip. 

“Yeah, great, now let’s go, before-” Tadashi was cut off by the sound of a siren. The two shared a look of alarm, before they started sprinting down the path. 

“Keepers too? You know, things never get this exciting when I’m alone”

“Keep your voice down,” Tadashi hissed. “And don’t let them see your face,” he said, pulling his hood up over his cap. As the hood stiffened then locked into place, a half visor slid out from under his cap and over his eyes. Hiro rolled his eyes, but pulled his goggles up from around his neck, then slid his hood up to let it lock into place. 

“And by the way, there isn’t going to be a time more exciting than this-” 

“Because we’re gonna get arrested by the police.”

“- _because_ you are going to stop bot fighting.” 

“Ha. Ha. Yeah, like I’m going to stop bot fighting….” Hiro trailed off, as his brother started to slow down. “What are you doing?”

“Our ride’s here.” Tadashi replied, pulling something out from behind a dumpster.

Hiro stared. “A bike. What, are you going to try to out pedal a glider? I mean they both have wheels, but there’s no way we’re going to be faster than the Keepers.” 

“You’d be surprised. Come on.” Tadashi straddled the bike, clearly waiting for Hiro. 

“Okay,” Hiro said, hopping on. He moved his feet to rest on the back axles, but was met with air. “What the…”

“You can put your feet on my calves, just make sure to hold on tight.” Hiro frowned, doing so. As Tadashi started pedaling, Hiro tried looking the bike over again. He couldn't see very well, it was dark and the bike was moving, and all he could tell that it was a black bike with orange, maybe yellow rims.

Hiro was interrupted from his thoughts, when Tadashi pedalled onto the main road. “Tadashi! What are you doing!?!? The Keepers are going to catch us for sure if we’re out in the open!” 

“Aww, don’t you trust me?” Tadashi called back to him. The bike seemed to gain a burst of speed in response. 

“Well, yeah, but I thought you were trying to stop us from getting arrested.” Hiro looked back to see a beam of light, most likely from a homing bot, much closer than he would have liked. The Keepers wouldn’t be too far behind.

“Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing.” Tadashi said, as the bike seemed to gain another burst of speed. 

“Huh…?” Hiro looked down again as the rims of the wheels started to glow brighter.

“Hey look, there’s our other ride.” Tadashi said, a small motion from his shoulders showed that he was probably pointing at something. Hiro looked up, but didn’t see anything but the mag-tram tracks in front of them. “Hold on.” Hiro yelped and held tighter onto his brother as the bike put on a final burst of speed. 

_And they were going to ram straight into a recycling pile!_

But no, they actually hit an incline causing them to go up and straight into the air. Tadashi couldn’t help but chuckle as Hiro whooped with glee when they went flying. The younger brother grinned widely, checking his reflection in the second story building window before noticing a circle of light in the corner. He whipped his head around and his fears were confirmed. The bikes trajectory was going to land them right in front of an incoming mag-tram.

“Last warning Hiro!” Tadashi yelled, so he could be heard over the tram and sirens and the odd hum that seemed to be permeating the air. “Hold on as tight as you can!”

“Fine!” Hiro yelled back, not taking his eyes off of what was surely going to be their imminent deaths. He wrapped his arms as tightly as he could around Tadashi’s chest, then decided he might as well wrap his legs around him too. 

As the tram reared closer, Hiro's life may have flashed before his eyes. He couldn't quite tell. There was a distinct lack of meaningful memories he had besides the ones about his family. If he got out of this alive-

But of course he couldn't finish the thought because they were about to slam straight into the side of a speeding mag-tram. 

Then Tadashi leaned forward, causing Hiro to lean forward, letting the younger brother get a better look at their imminent doom. 

Suddenly, the bike jerked up and it started to climb the _slagging_ side of the tram

Tadashi quickly maneuvered the bike so that they were speeding on top of the tram, moving fast enough to catch up with the front. As they reached the front, they jumped off the tram, the bike moving at an impossible speed in the direction of their home. They were moving so fast that not even their laughter lingered in the air behind them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments:
> 
> 1) The term "Keepers" is a reference to the Hunger Games', Peace Keepers. However in this world, they are still called police officers. Keepers is a slang term that mostly the younger generation uses, due to some of the curfew restrictions placed on those who have not yet entered a Sector. The curfew isn’t very “serious,” either, the reason given to the public is they want to prevent people from being in areas where the Underground may be found.
> 
> 2) "Slag" is a swear and it’s typically only used among the younger generation. It can also mean tired when written as "slagged." This was taken from the Batman Beyond series, though the meaning isn’t quite the same. 
> 
> -000-
> 
> Author’s Notes -
> 
> When I read the official art book for Big Hero 6, I immediately thought of this concept for an AU.The concept of San Fransokyo actually being San Francisco, but changed, was so interesting. There are so many dynamics to play with and so many things that aren’t explained in the movie. Like why did they rename the city? Does San Fransokyo have a large criminal underground? Would they involve the mafia or yakuza, or perhaps the triad? Why were most of the people in power white, when the city was so obviously interracial?
> 
> All these questions inspired the concept for this fic (and hopefully will inspire me for future fics to come). 
> 
> So there are a few things I want to mention. First and foremost, this dystopian idea is not based on any specific book, although there are some concepts and terms that I am going to pull from other stories and published works (any similarities to other fics are not intended, unless they are tropes). Secondly, I would love feedback, but then again, who wouldn’t. Specifically, I would love feedback about the world itself. This is not my first fic, but this is my first AU where I completely change the world, so I’ve never had to deal with plot holes concerning world creation. (Although, this is my first fic on Ao3.) Feel free to ask questions about the world or point out any things that might be off.
> 
> I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. The second chapter is in the works, but I don’t know when I’ll finish it. And I think you’ll notice that the next chapter will definitely be more of the movie rewritten, as opposed to this chapter. It can’t be helped with some of the scenes coming up. As for the timing of each chapter, I hope to post one chapter a month, but we’ll see where that goes.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Beta Read - SpotlightAsagi and Shaitan Elnifi
> 
> Chapter Date Published - 2/1/2015

Hiro tried to casually stare at Tadashi from the corner of his eye. They had started walking a few blocks back when Tadashi had declared that they were close enough and he wasn’t going to pedal any longer. So, there they were, heading back to the cafe. Tadashi was walking the (awesome!) bike back and Hiro was walking next to him.

And Hiro could not stop looking at his older brother. 

Said older brother turned to look at him and Hiro immediately turned away. Tadashi couldn't help but smile warmly at his silly brother. Tadashi looked away. Hiro started staring again.

Hiro couldn't help it. Sure, Tadashi wasn't wearing his visor or hood which left him in his usual SF cap, but his clothes... He eyed the jumpsuit his brother was wearing. It was black, which was weird because his brother never wore black, but more surprisingly were the neon green lines that ran along the joints. Not to mention the bike!

He had to admit, his normally dorky brother? 

He was pretty cool right now. 

“We have to talk about this, Hiro.”

Hiro sighed. What was he thinking? Of course his brother couldn’t be anything other than lame.

“What, like about the fact that we just jumped over a slagging mag-tram? Which I have to say, was slagging awesome!” Hiro exclaimed, adding in a fist pump for good measure. 

Tadashi made a grab for his brother, but Hiro just swayed out of reach. “No, about the part where you have to stop going to Underground bot fights!” 

“Pfft. More like winning Underground bot fights! And will you relax? We did manage to escape those guys and the Keepers!” 

“You guys did what!?!”

Hiro and Tadashi whipped around to meet a very worried Aunt Cass. The brothers hadn't noticed, but they had already reached the cafe.

"Uh, hey Aunt Cass." Hiro said, adding in a small wave.

Hiro found himself being smothered as Aunt Cass pulled him into her chest. 

"I was SO worried! Then Tadashi went to go get you," which prompted her to pull said brother into the embrace, "and that was hours ago!" 

She pulled back, one hand gently cupping the side of each boys face. "Are you two alright?" She asked, softly. The boys mumbled a yes, because it was true and they knew better than to say otherwise. 

"Then what were you two knuckleheads thinking!!!" Aunt Cass’ mood took an abrupt turn and she yanked on their ears, dragging them to the front entrance. The boys did their best to follow along, but despite their best efforts they were still tugged by their ears. Aunt Cass kept talking despite their pained protests. "I know that it's hard, I mean, I wasn’t exactly expecting to be a parent, and I’m sure you guys weren’t expecting me to be your guardian.” She finally let go, so she could unlock the door. Hiro and Tadashi immediately put a hand to their ears, hoping that Aunt Cass wouldn’t decide to grab them again.

“And we only have the three of us to look after each other, but we do our best don't we?"

She seemed to deflate as she opened the door. Her shoulders sagged and her head dropped and the brothers couldn’t help but unconsciously copy her movement, as if they were all sharing the same indescribable weight. In some ways, they were. 

“We’ve done our best these last ten years.” She said softly, not looking back at them. 

Hiro and Tadashi shared a look. Hiro stuffed his hands into his pockets and resisted the urge to scuff his shoes, unwilling to interrupt the moment. Then he crossed his arms, trying not to look as guilty as he felt. 

Tadashi’s expression softened at seeing his family like this. He looked down at the ground and tugged on his cap, before replying. “You two are the best family a guy could ask for. And we really are sorry, Aunt Cass.”

“Yeah, we love you Aunt Cass,” Hiro added softly. 

“I love you two, too,” she replied, just as softly. Turning around to face Hiro and Tadashi, she smiled tenderly at her boys. They smiled awkwardly back. “Come on,” she said, rolling her eyes at their expressions. Aunt Cass and Hiro walked into the cafe, while Tadashi quickly placed the bike behind the cafe sign before slipping in behind them. 

Then found himself being pushed outside with Hiro, "Ugh, you two are filthy," Aunt Cass tried her best to brush the dust off the boys' outfits, but failed. Especially with Hiro's. "Maybe I should get the hose." 

The brothers immediately protested, "We'll try to get most of it off and go through the side door," Tadashi reasoned. 

Hiro nodded. Tadashi elbowed him. Hiro got the message. "And! And," Hiro paused, "we'll clean up after ourselves." 

Hands on her hips, Aunt Cass gave them a mock glare. "You better. And don't go scaring Mochi off, I think some of the neighbors are trying to lure him away.” 

She went inside. The Hamada brothers made their way to the side entrance. They tried to pat themselves down, although it didn't help at all. Still, it was better than before, and skies forbid if they dirtied the cafe. And if they scared off Mochi? Then Aunt Cass would kill them and give their rooms to that cat as a peace offering. 

Tadashi opened the door, making sure to wipe his feet before heading upstairs. He paused and turned around, when he didn't hear Hiro do the same. "You coming?" 

Hiro had been looking downstairs, but looked up at his older brother. "You go on ahead."

Tadashi stared at him for a moment. Then he nodded, making his way up to their rooms. 

Hiro watched his brother walk upstairs before heading over to where he thought Aunt Cass was. He followed the purring.

Luckily he didn't have to go into the cafe and he silently stood in the doorway to the hall. Aunt Cass didn't notice him, too focused on petting Mochi. However, Mochi did, softly meowing before trotting over to him. Hiro bent down to pet him. 

"Mochi, really likes us." Hiro said not looking up at his aunt.

"Yeah, I'm not surprised. We do have a pretty amazing family." Aunt Cass knelt on the floor so that the two were face to face, with Mochi between them. "Lately the neighbors have been trying to tempt Mochi into staying at their place, but Mochi's not having any of it, are you Mochi~?" She scratched the back of the cats ears, making him pur louder. 

Hiro smiled. "Aunt Cass?" He said hesitantly. "I uh, got you something."

Aunt Cass sighed, but it was out of exasperation rather than disappointment. She didn't stop petting Mochi and she didn't stop smiling. "Hiro, honey, we talked about this. Legitimate or not, I'm not taking the money you've won from your bot fights." She paused, then thought about what she said. "Especially if it's not legitimate," she added. 

"It's not money," Hiro quickly replied. "It's..." He patted down the front of his jumpsuit, before reaching in to pull something out. "Here," he shoved the item into his aunt's face. 

She had to pull back, in order to see what the object was. Then gasped. 

"Chocolate? Now I know for sure that you’ve been gambling,” She said, more amused than disappointed. 

“Sorry.” Hiro pulled his arm back, then said, “I want you to have it Aunt Cass.” 

“You must have beat someone pretty dangerous to have won this,” Aunt Cass said knowingly. 

Hiro nodded.

Aunt Cass laid a soft hand over the object, then put the other below Hiro’s hand. Both hands encompassed Hiro’s for a moment before taking the chocolate. “Thank you, Hiro. We can save it for a special occasion.” 

He grinned, equal parts embarrassed and proud at the praise. Hiro quickly turned to the staircase.

Aunt Cass watched him disappear upstairs. “That boy,” she sighed aloud. 

She thought for a second before smiling and sighing again. “My boys.”

-000-

"You better make this up to Aunt Cass," Tadashi said from his bed. 

"Yeah, yeah..." Hiro grumbled, making his way to his computer. However, inwardly, he was already thinking on how to do just that. Sure, Aunt Cass loved sweets, but the chocolate didn’t count if she wasn’t going to eat it herself. And he really did feel bad about worrying her.

"And hand it over." 

"What?" Hiro turned his chair around to see Tadashi with his I'm-your-big-brother-I-know-best stink face on and his arms crossed. He was also wearing his typical forest green jumpsuit. "Why did you change?"

"Hiro, don't try to change the subject," Tadashi said, disappointment radiating from his entire body. "I know that whatever you gave Aunt Cass isn't the only thing you won."

“I won her chocolate,” Hiro said smugly.

Tadashi’s whole demeanor relaxed for a second. “Chocolate? Wow, that is a good win”

Then changed back. “Good job on the chocolate thing, but don’t change the subject again.” 

"Ohhh," Hiro drawled in exaggerated realization, spinning his chair to face his brother. "Well you see, I didn't win," he said casually. "I cleared house! Check it out!" He whipped out a set of cred chips. 

Tadashi face palmed, groaning. "You didn't."

"Oh I did." 

"Give them here." Tadashi held out his hand, while he kept the other hand firmly over his eyes. 

Hiro thought about protesting. However...

"Please." 

Sighing, Hiro handed over the chips. Not wanting to see his brother throw it all away, he swiveled his chair back to face his monitor. 

“Thank you Hiro, I’ll take care of it.” Tadashi pocketed the chips and put a comforting hand on Hiro’s shoulder. “I get it, I really do. We could do a lot with this, but it’s just too dangerous to accept things from the Underground.”

“... I really was going to buy something for Aunt Cass,” Hiro said softly. He didn’t bother turning around, but he didn’t shrug the hand off his shoulder either. 

“I know.” Tadashi squeezed his brother’s shoulder.

Then Tadashi noticed what was on the monitor screen. “Another bot fight? Hiro..."

“Hey, this one’s legit. You know, no explosions and no humiliating the other players, baby rules." Hiro got up to brush past his brother. "If I leave now, I can make the last tourney for the night." 

Sighing, Tadashi ruffled his brother’s hair. "Come on. I'll take you." 

"Really? You will?" Hiro asked as they made their way downstairs. 

"Yeah, and if you don't mind a pit stop first, we can take the bike part way." Tadashi paused next to the living room. "Aunt Cass! We're heading out! Don't worry, I'll watch over Hiro!"

"Hey!" Hiro cried out, Tadashi ignored him. 

"You boys be safe!" Aunt Cass called back.

"We will!" Hiro said back.

A beat.

"And nothing illegal!" She added.

"No promises!" The Hamada brothers yelled back.

-000-

"Tell me why we’re at your nerd school, again?" Hiro said, glaring at the building they were approaching. "The bot tournament is the other way!"

“Hey, you said you were okay with taking a detour if we took the bike," Tadashi replied as they pulled up to the steps. 

"Well, yeah, but I was expecting a little more.. Action." Hiro jumped off the bike and continued to sulk as they made their way towards Tadashi's lab.

"Really. The stuff before wasn't exciting enough for you?"

"No, no. You're right-"

"Pfft, first time I've heard that in a while."

"Hah. Hah. Very funny Tadashi. Anyways, it was exciting, but since we’re not running for our lives... Isn’t this the perfect chance to, you know, see what the bike can do?” Hiro said, eyes wide, but utterly failing to look innocent.

“That’s why we’re here, I need to return the bike. Besides, you’ve never seen my lab before.” Tadashi paused at the door. He then opened it for Hiro. “After you.”

Hiro walked in without a second thought. “What do you mean- woah.” Inside were dozens of students working on what was considered sky-shattering technology. Hiro could design some of these things in his sleep, but he had no idea that the tech Institute had this sort of access to materials on the island. Typically he had to bug Tadashi or go to the recycling areas to find the right materials for his projects...

"Heads up!"

A figure rocketed past him on a yellow and purple bike. He couldn't help but stare as the rider popped a wheelie to stop the bikes momentum. Dismounting, she hooked her bike up to a rig. And as she was leaving, she took a wheel off only to throw it behind her, where it automatically reattached itself to the bike. 

Hiro made his way over to the bike rig. Looking closely at the wheels, he saw that they weren't attached to the bike frame. 

"Cool right?" Tadashi asked. "Let me just leave this here-"

"Hey! What are you doing, Hamada?"

Hiro jumped, and whipped around, facing the female figure from before. She was still wearing a blacked out visor, which covered her face and expression.

"Well, uh, I," Hiro stuttered.

"Not you," she interrupted, her visor shimmered to reveal her unimpressed face. "Him." She pinned Tadashi with a look.

"Gogo! Hey. I was just, uh, showing my younger brother Hiro around." Tadashi said, nudging Hiro forward at the same time. This caused Gogo to direct all her attention to Hiro. 

"Hi? Uh, I've never seen electro mag suspension on a bike before." 

She stared at him. Then shrugged, taking a step in between the brothers to her bike. "It's a lighter and faster bike. Zero resistance, a smoother ride, not to mention the special features." Gogo glanced at Hiro as she patted the bike. 

"Special features? That.. sounds really cool." Hiro managed. 

"And you're saying you've never seen it before? Even though Tadashi here is holding one of the prototypes?" Gogo asked, jerking her thumb back at Tadashi, who was trying to stealthily place the brothers' ride against the wall.

Tadashi winced. "Well," he started, propping the black and orange bike against the wall, "you did say I could borrow it."

“Wait, you made that bike?” Hiro asked. “What am I saying? Of course you did. My brother’s not cool enough to make something like that.”

“Hey!” Tadashi protested. The other two ignored him.

“Yeah?” Her lips curled into a smile. “And that’s just one of the older models. This one is even faster.” She lightly spun one of the wheels, then frowned. “But not fast enough.” She whipped the wheel off, throwing it into a crate, then walked off. 

Both Hamada’s stared as she walked away. 

“Woah." Hiro couldn't help but say.

"I know what you mean.” Tadashi gently nudged Hiro, snapping him out of his reverie. “Come on, I'll take you around." Tadashi inclined his head towards the rest of the lab. Hiro smiled, forgetting about the bot tournament, and instead looked around eagerly. He started walking and Tadashi followed behind him.

"Hey Tadashi,” someone said.

Hiro stopped, turning to see a tall youth behind a door frame, wave at this brother. "Catch," the guy said, tossing an apple to his brother. Tadashi managed to easily catch it.

"Hey Wasabi," Tadashi said, gesturing to Hiro to come over, he did. "This is my brother, Hiro." 

"Hello Hiro," Wasabi said with a smile. Hiro gave a small awkward wave back. "Do you mind, passing that back to me?" Wasabi gestured to the apple in Tadashi's hand.

"Uh, sure." Hiro took the apple from his brother and lobbed it back. 

The apple moved through the air and Wasabi made no move to catch it. However, before it hit him, the apple suddenly bounced, seemingly off of thin air, back towards Hiro. A second later, the apple was sliced into hundreds of thin layers that floated toward him. 

“Wow…”

“Not too shabby, eh?” Wasabi adjusted something near the doorway, then started to pull two stands into his lab space. “Come on in, but don’t forget to sanitize.”

Hiro was about to follow when Tadashi stopped him. “Come on, we gotta freshen up first.” Tadashi pointed to a Saniscrub station next to the door. Hiro made a face. “Seriously, just come here.” Tadashi took the UV rod, and quickly sanitized himself and his brother. “Don’t forget to wipe your feet.”

Hiro rolled his eyes, but did so. He went inside just as Wasabi activated the visuals for his project. Between the two stands, an aqua shield and laser array popped into existence. “Laser induced plasma?” Hiro asked.

“Yup,” Wasabi replied, carefully adjusting the placement of the stands so that they were perfect.

“Wait, for both the shield and the laser array? How did you manage that?” 

“Oh, just a bit of magnetic confinement for ultra-precision. All it needed was a little bit of system readjustment to do both with the same base.” Wasabi said with a flourish. Then went to tweaking some of the tools at his workplace. “Although…”

“What?” Hiro asked.

“It still needs a lot of work. I mean it malfunctioned.” Wasabi said with a shrug.

“Malfunctioned? It looked like it worked perfectly,” Hiro argued. “It was awesome.”

“Yeah, Wasabi,” Tadashi added. “It looks like it’s working how you designed it.”

Wasabi shot the brothers a grateful smile. “Thanks, but.. it was only supposed to activate if the item was off parameters.” 

“What were the parameters?”

“In this case, the parameters were set to shield and slice if the item returned back dirty, and I mean filthy. I just wanted something simple to test out. In fact, I took some components from a Saniscrub station so I didn’t have to fab anything… What. What’s with those looks?” 

The brothers shared a look, then looked away. Hiro tried to casually rub his neck while Tadashi messed with his cap. They shared another look.

Wasabi stared at them, waiting for an answer.

Suddenly, Gogo passed in front of them. “Borrowing these,” Gogo said, snatching several of Wasabi’s tools and messing up his work station. She left just as quickly, not allowing the boys any time to respond. 

“Wait-” Wasabi sputtered, “-you can’t just-” Wasabi looked helplessly at his workstation, before following after her. “We’ll talk about this later!” He shot off to the brothers before chasing after Gogo.

Tadashi and Hiro shared another look. 

“We were lucky,” Hiro started.

“- _so_ , so very lucky,” Tadashi finished. 

“Are.. you going to tell him?” Hiro asked. 

“Of course. You know, later.” Tadashi answered.

“Riiight.” 

“I will tell him later.” 

Hiro was about to retort, when someone almost crashed into the brothers. 

"Excuse me!" She almost fell over, but Tadashi managed to catch her.

She smiled, instantly recognizing Hiro’s brother. "Hey Tadashi!" 

"Hey, Honey." Tadashi smiled back, helping her regain her balance. The sounds of a Spanish music station filtered through her collar comm, while her arms were carrying a large and heavy black ball. “Let me help you with that.” He moved to grab the item, out of her hands, but Honey spun turned out of his reach. 

“No, it’s fine, Tadashi. I can carry-” She gasped, catching sight of Hiro. “Dios mio~!” She cried excitedly. She then heaved the ball to Tadashi. He grunted, just barely catching it in time. “You must be Hiro!” She said a little too loudly, a large smile on her face. 

“Hi?”

“Oh, sorry.” She turned off her comm. “So you’re Hiro?” Honey cooed, her accent was more prominent now that she was speaking at acceptable decibel levels. “I’ve heard so much about you.” She quickly bent down to kiss Hiro on each cheek. 

“Uh, yeah, hi.” Hiro replied dumbly.

“Yeah, Tadashi talks about you so much. I feel like you’re already family,” the girl continued, holding both of his hands in hers. 

Hiro glanced down at their hands, then looked up again. “He, he does?” 

“Yeah, I can’t believe he didn’t bring you earlier. Say, Tadashi,” She turned to Tadashi, missing the guilty look that crossed Hiro’s face, “-oh! Sorry, that must be really heavy.”

“No, no, it’s not that bad.” Tadashi said, though he was starting to look strained. 

“Come on, come on, Tadashi can put this down, and I can show you my project Hiro.” Honey gave Tadashi a gentle nudge, before grabbing Hiro and leading them to her space. 

In her lab, she dragged Hiro over to her chemistry workstation, excitedly pointing out the chemicals and processes she was using in her project. Tadashi arrived after them and started preparing the sphere. By the time that they came back, he was finished with the set-up.

“Is that..” Hiro squinted at the metal, before grinning “Tungsten carbide?”

“Oh yeah, twenty five pounds of it,” Honey said proudly.

“How did you get so much of it?” Hiro asked 

“You know, go to the acquisition office in the Institute and ask for it. Although, it might also have to do with my project.” She shot Hiro a wink. 

“You’re going to love this,” she said, pulling a lever down. The tungsten carbide was clamped down then raised off the floor, where it was then encompassed by a clear chamber. “We feed in the chemical I just showed you,” the tungsten carbide was sprayed with a pink gas. “And, ta-dah~!” Pulling down another lever, a current of electricity shot through the metal, making the gas settle on the sphere’s surface. 

Hiro couldn’t help but shoot her an incredulous look. 

“Wait, here comes the best part. Come here.” She tilted her head, towards the chamber and gestured to the bottom. “I had these installed, due to… past experiments.” 

On the bottom of the chamber were a set of gloves to move things around inside the chamber without opening it. She had Hiro take one hand, while she took the other. “On the count of three? One-” Honey started.

“Two-” Hiro continued.

“Three.” They both ended, touching the pink sphere, where it exploded, filling the chamber with pink gas.

“Cool,” Hiro said with a smile.

“I know right? Chemical metal embrittlement!” She said with a laugh. Hiro’s grin grew wider. Her mood truly was infectious. “But the experiment isn’t over yet. Let me-” she tried to turn without taking her hand out of the glove.

“I got it,” Tadashi said. “Both levers right?”

“Right,” she replied. “Okay, so we feed the secondary chemical into the chamber,” a bright yellow gas was fed into the chamber, “and one more time…Ta dah~!” 

Tadashi threw down two levers, sending another pulse of energy flowed through the chamber. Hiro watched, amazed as the pink and yellow gas that was swirling around his glover were sucked up only to turn back into a tie-dye sphere. 

“Go ahead and touch it,” she encouraged.

He patted the ball. It was completely solid and didn’t react to his touch. 

“Chemical metal reformation, too? Wow,” Hiro said. They pulled their hands out of the gloves. 

“Not bad, Honey Lemon,” Tadashi said with a smile.

“Wait,” Hiro couldn’t help but say. “Honey Lemon?” She nodded. “I thought Honey was...” He looked between his brother and the chemical engineer. 

Tadashi chuckled, embarrassed. Honey Lemon gave a soft laugh, her cheeks a tad pink. “Honey Lemon’s just a nickname that Fred gave me,” she explained. “He gave the others their nicknames too. In fact…” Honey Lemon checked the time. “Fred’s probably here now, I can introduce you!” 

She grabbed Hiro’s hand, leading him elsewhere. Tadashi followed at a more sedate pace, smiling warmly at their interactions. 

“Fred’s great, you’re going to, oh boy.” The two rounded the corner, and Hiro laid his eyes on a very strange scene. There was a guy who looked like he was slowly eating something, but there was nothing in his hands.

He suddenly turned to point at them. “Ha! Made you look. I bet you thought I was crazy, didn’t you?”

“Oh Fred,” Honey sighed. 

“Hey, the name’s Fred.” He stuck out a hand and gave Hiro an arm shake. “And what you just saw there, was the invisible sandwich.”

“Invisible.. sandwich,” Hiro repeated.

“Well, I didn’t invent it, but it’s a great idea right? I got a lot of those, right here.” Fred pointed to his beanie covered forehead. 

“So, what’s your actual project then?” Hiro asked.

“Oh no, no. I’m not a student here at this Institute, I’m just a huge science enthusiast. I mean look at all this, isn’t it awesome?” Fred exclaimed with a big grin.

Fred’s enthusiasm made Hiro smile too. “Yeah, it really is.”

“I mean, between the shields and lasers and robots and chemistry, we have to be at the point where Honey could turn me into a fire breathing lizard, right?” Fred passionately continued. 

“Fred, it’s really not possible.” Honey said apologetically. Wasabi and Gogo came closer, Fred’s earlier actions catching their attention.

“Really?” Fred said, unconvinced. “So, Wasabi’s going to tell me he can’t build me a shrink ray either.” 

“That’s not science,” Wasabi replied flatly. 

“Oh? But what about the thing I asked Nu-”

“Fred, I can’t give you laser eyes,” Tadashi interrupted. 

“Okay, maybe not laser eyes, but let’s revisit the idea of the invisible sandwich.” At this point Fred started to mime slowly eating a sandwich in front of them. 

Tadashi shook his head with a smile. “Hiro, let’s go to my lab,” he said softly, unwilling to interrupt his friends. Then he slipped away from the conversation, heading to another section of the Institute. 

Hiro slowly followed behind, but let his eyes linger on the sight of Tadashi’s friends before turning towards his brother. “So,” Hiro started. “Gogo, Wasabi, and Honey Lemon? Do you have a nickname too?”

“Nope,” Tadashi replied, straight-faced. 

“You do.”

“Maybe. And if I did, you’re never going to find out.”

“Oh, yes I will.”

“Over my dead body.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1) Since the island is more of a scientific community, I think that the more scientific citizens would make less references to religion or things of faith. That’s why I had it say “skies forbid,” not “heaven forbid.”
> 
> 2) I don’t actually know Mochi’s gender, so I’m saying Mochi’s a he, until I have the information otherwise.
> 
> 3) If you noticed, I said "sky shattering," because "earth shattering," has been phased out of the language. It hits a little too close to the mark for the San Fransokyians.
> 
> 4) In general, there is going to be quite a bit of pseudo science in this, but I will try to keep things as realistic as possible. If anyone sees a blatant mistake, then please message me/comment on it. 
> 
> 5) The Saniscrub station is a reference to some of the other things in futuristic things I’ve read. It was inspired mostly by Star Trek and the things written in that fandom.
> 
> 6) One of the biggest complaints and/or criticisms about the movie that I’ve heard has to do with Honey Lemon and her pronunciation. I am actually quite glad that someone in the movie actually tries to do the actual pronunciation of things, although I don’t think they did it right in the movie. I think they should have made it more clear that Honey Lemon is Latina and then her pronunciation would have made more sense. 
> 
> I understand that this is a very sensitive topic. But I do have reasons (and hopes) for writing it this way. Well the optimistic part of me thinks that people in San Fransokyo can be more open and proud of their culture. That as a result of the disaster, racism doesn't exist (or at least is not as institutionalized as it is now). That's the hope.
> 
> In general, the movie doesn’t really point out the ethnicities of the characters, which is quite frustrating. For example, Aunt Cass. I wish I at least knew her last name to determine which side of the family she’s from. If she’s related to the father, does that mean she’s Japanese, cuz it looks like she’s been white-washed. If not, then what’s her last name? 
> 
> And, I do want to mention that my beta, Spotlight Asagi, did point out that what Honey Lemon says is in direct contradiction to my first note. Which is a very good point. However, I think I will keep this due to the different circumstances of their families. The Hamada brother’s parents are (or at least in my story they are) a more science oriented family, therefore they would cut out a lot of faith related language, unless it had to do with their culture. That’s not Honey’s case, and I imagine her saying it is more of a reflex than an actual representation of what she believes. 
> 
> For those of you who don’t think Honey Lemon being Latina is canon, there are two points I can say about this. The voice actress for Honey Lemon, Genesis Rodriguez, is obviously not white or Euro. The voice actors are all multi-ethnicitied. For example, Ryan Potter, the voice actor for Hiro is half white, half asian. The second point, has to do with her introduction, in the movie Honey Lemon is listening to, what I believe is, a song in Spanish. That part is canon. (By the way, I can’t actually understand the words, so if someone could message/comment on this, that would be great.)
> 
> That’s what I’m trying to accomplish with her speaking Spanish. However, I am by no means an expert on the language, culture, etc. If I am doing it wrong, please feel free to message me. Same if people have any suggestions on how I go about doing this.
> 
> -000-
> 
> Author's Notes - 
> 
> This chapter was actually quite hard to finish, though easy to write. Yes, it’s a rewrite of the movie, so I have the basics of what should happen already given to me, but it’s hard because I want to show how different things are in this new San Fransokyo. I wanted to especially show some of the new relationships between the characters. Hopefully, I accomplished that with this chapter. 
> 
> The next chapter is going to be similar, movie rewrite, but again, showing these differences. More importantly, the next chapter is going to introduce Baymax. I thought the event was important enough that it deserved it’s own chapter.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Beta Read - SpotlightAsagi and Shaitan Elnifi
> 
> Chapter Date Published - 3/1/2015

“Sooo…..” Hiro started, quickly became distracted by Tadashi’s lab. “Hey, is that your own fabricator?” He asked, walking over to the fabricator.

“Nope,” Tadashi replied, joining his brother.. Hiro shot him an incredulous look. “You’re looking at a whole set of fabrication units.”

“So they can work together or individually? Cool.” Hiro said, brain already working overtime on his inventions which could make use of them. 

“Yup. Modular, and I can always add more if I need to.” Tadashi patted one of the units, fondly. 

“Wow, did the Institute provide them for you?” 

“Wrong again. I designed them and made them right here in the lab.” 

“Okay then,” Hiro took that as an invitation, hopping onto a nearby desk before taking one of the units in hand. “Let’s see if I can’t improve this old thing. Oh wait, I probably can.” 

“Really.” Tadashi said flatly.

“Uh huh.” Hiro didn’t look at this brother when he replied. Instead he started taking the unit apart. 

“Well,” Tadashi drawled, “I mean, if you’re busy with that-”

“Pfft, please. I could do this in my sleep.”

“-then I guess you wouldn’t be interested in all the spare parts that I’ve got laying around.” Tadashi casually finished.

Hiro immediately put the fab unit down. “Spare parts?”

“Some really nice ones too,” Tadashi continued, going to his desk . “I try to gather up what I can from the Institute and recycling centers, but if you’re not interested… I mean I could give them to someone else.” 

“NO!” Hiro exclaimed, unable to stop himself. 

“No?” Tadashi said back.

“I mean, nooo.. why go through all that trouble? I can just take them off your hands.” Hiro said as nonchalantly as he could.

“Oh, you would?” Hiro knew that Tadashi could see right through him and Tadashi knew that Hiro knew, but they both played along anyway. 

“Yeah, I would do anything for you big brother.” Hiro said with a cheesy grin. 

“You’re the best, baby bro.” Tadashi replied, grinning right back. He gestured to the tables next to the window, where the pile of parts sat.

Hiro’s eyes widened. How had he not noticed them before? 

The brothers made their way over to the piles. "So," Tadashi began, dusting off a box, "I think you might appreciate these specifically, but go ahead and take a look at everything. I've gathered a lot of stuff since I've been here-"

_Beep beep. Beep beep. Beep beep._

Tadashi’s smile slid off his face, as he was interrupted by a noise coming from the comm unit in his cap. 

He sighed. "One tic."

Hiro mumbled an affirmative back, already shuffling through the loads of parts in front of him.

Tadashi went to his computer set-up, doing something that Hiro wasn't concerned about. Probably Institute stuff. He opened the box that Tadashi was talking about. "Ooo, electric magnetic servos. They’re a bit worn, but still functional. Where did you get these?" 

"Gogo, they're slag from her past prototypes.” Tadashi answered absently. "Hey Hiro? Do you mind if I step out for a bit?"

"Sure, sure."

"Be right back." 

The doors softly shut as Tadashi slipped out of the room, making the lab became eerily silent. Hiro stopped working, suddenly aware of how loud his actions were. The clinking of metal on metal was amplified in the empty room. He looked at the box of parts in his hands, then at the door. 

He tried to think about all the projects that he could finish with the servos alone, not to mention the rest of the parts, but he couldn’t quite concentrate. Maybe it was his imagination, but Hiro felt like he could hear Tadashi’s friends. 

It was probably his imagination. Tadashi’s lab was out of the way of the main lab and had soundproofing. 

Unfortunately, that didn’t stop Hiro’s imagination from running out of his control.He pictured, Fred, Honey Lemon, Wasabi and Gogo hanging out together, smiling and chatting about something. They laughed, probably at something Fred said, and he could see his brother joining in on the joke, easily slipping into the interactions. 

Without him.

While Hiro was lost in his imaginings, a small part fell out of the box he was holding. The sound managed to shake him out of his thoughts. 

“Wha…?” Hiro looked at the box. The corner was worn down. He put the box back on the desk before bending down to look for the piece that fell. And of course it had rolled to the edge of the wall, in the hardest to reach place behind the desk. Hiro sighed, and crawled forward to get it. 

**BOOM!**

Hiro started at the sound, reflexively trying to stand, which brought his head in contact with the desk above him. 

"Ow! What the slaggin'- Ughhh." 

Unbeknownst to Hiro, who was clutching his head in pain, a red case next to the desk lit up. A few moments later, a robot carefully stepped out of the case, walking over to Hiro. A squeaking caught Hiro's attention.

"Huh?" Hiro looked up. "What!" The white figure filled his vision, startling him again, which caused him to hit his head against the desk, once again. "Owww..."

The robot held out a hand. "Allow me to assist you,” he said.

Hiro looked at the hand, then back at the white robot's face. The robot stood unmoving, hand out. 

He shrugged. "Sure," Hiro moved to place a hand into the bot's. "You sure you're strong enough to-" As soon as Hiro put his hand into the bot's hand, the bot easily helped him up, even steadying him when he was upright. 

"Huh. You are strong enough." Hiro said curiously, taking the robot's hand and started poking at it.

The robot didn't pull away, instead using his other hand to give Hiro a small circular wave. "Hello. I am Baymax, your personal health care companion. I was alerted to the need for medical attention when you said ‘ow.’"

"A robotic nurse.” Hiro kept on prodding Baymax. “This really does seem like something Tadashi would make."

“On a scale from one to ten,” Baymax continued, chest lighting up with the scale, “how would rate your pain?”

“I’m…” Hiro thought for a second, “horrible Baymax. Definitely a ten, “ Hiro said with a smile, dropping the robot’s hand. He wasn’t in enough pain to warrant such a rating, but he was curious as to what Baymax would do.

“I will scan you now.” Baymax said. Not even a second later,. “Scan complete. Diagnosis: you are not in immediate danger. However, if you are in pain, then I would first recommend that you sit down.” 

“Sure, Baymax.” Hiro responded, amused. “I would love to sit down.” 

“One moment.” Baymax said, then turned to face the rest of the lab. Hiro watched as Baymax’s head turned, most likely scanning the room, before stopping at the chair in front of Tadashi’s desk. Baymax started walking towards the chair, but bumped into a swivel stool. Looking down, the robot bent to pick up the stool, then turned to place the it out of the way. He then continued to Tadashi’s desk, bringing the wheely chair over to Hiro. 

Hiro sat down and pushed off so he drifted to the middle of the room. Baymax followed him, squeaking as he did. “Good job, Baymax.” 

"The treatment is not yet complete” Baymax continued. “You have a small cranial contusion and a small dermal abrasion, on your right hand." Baymax's chest lit up with a diagram of a male human; the head and the right hand were highlighted. 

Hiro frowned, looking at his right hand. "Oh." There was a small cut on the back of his hand. "I must have scraped it against the desk." 

"Recommended treatment; take care of dermal abrasion first. I suggest an antibacterial spray.” Baymax moved to do just that.

Hiro stopped him. “Woah woah woah. What’s in the spray specifically?”

“The primary ingredient is Bacitracin.” The robot’s chest lit up with the molecule’s form. 

“It’s a bummer, I’m actually allergic to that,” Hiro said with a grin.

“You are not allergic to, Bacitracin You do have a mild allergy to, peanuts.” Baymax replied.

“Not bad.” Hiro grinned, impressed. He allowed Baymax to spray his cut. 

“The treatment is not yet complete,” Baymax said again. “You still have a small cranial contusion. I have pain reducers-”

“Meds aren’t necessary Baymax,” Hiro interrupted. 

“Then perhaps, a cooling source.” Baymax recommended.

“Sure, but where are you going to get a cold pack-” Hiro started, until Baymax gently put his hand on top of Hiro’s head. The robot’s palm cooled, soothing the bruise on Hiro’s head. “Nevermind then.”

“Is this an acceptable temperature?” Baymax questioned. 

“This is fine Baymax, it feels great.”

Baymax continued to stare at him (as much as a robot could stare) and blinked. 

"You have been a good boy," Baymax said. Hiro shot Baymax a look, but couldn't help but smile. "Would you care for a YuMMS?"

"You're offering me a YuMMS...." Hiro said flatly.

"Yes, a Young Men's Mineral Supplement. It is recommended for someone of your age and gender," Baymax replied. 

Hiro gave a half-laugh before talking. "Pshh. No, those are disgusting, just no. You don't offer a YuMMS to your patients for comfort, even if it is good for them. In fact, that's like the opposite of what you want to do. Don't you have something better?" 

Baymax tilted his head and blinked. "Would this assist in your recovery?" 

"Yes, yes it would." 

"Then Tadashi has a compartment of concentrated fruit lollipops hidden in his desk."

-000-

Later, Tadashi opened the door to his lab to the sight of Hiro sitting at his desk, sucking on one of his lollipops, with Baymax's hand on his head. 

Hiro saluted his brother with the lollipop. "Welcome back."

Baymax used his free hand to give a circular wave. "Greetings, Tadashi." 

Tadashi stood in the doorway, staring at the scene before him. Hiro waggled his eyebrows at his brother. 

Tadashi raised an eyebrow in response. “Hey Baymax,” he replied slowly. He closed the door and walked over to his brother. He raised a finger, as if he was about to say something, but stopped, shaking his head instead. Instead, he stuck his hand into a desk drawer and pulled a lollipop out of the secret compartment. “I see you’ve found my stash,” he said, popping it into his mouth. 

“Well,” Hiro drawled, casually waving his sucker, “You should know better than to keep secrets from your family-”

“Baymax?” Tadashi interrupted.

“Hiro said that the lollipops would progress his recovery.” Baymax automatically responded.

“Baymax! I thought you were on my side!” Hiro exclaimed. 

“Recovery? Hiro are you okay? Baymax, diagnosis.” Tadashi said, rushing over to check on his brother. Baymax rattled off Hiro’s injuries and treatment, while Tadashi tried to peer around the robot’s palm. 

Hiro tried to bat his older brother away. “Ugh, Tadashi I’m fine. It’s just a bump, Baymax took care of it.” 

After hearing that Hiro’s condition wasn’t very life-threatening, Tadashi gently lifted Baymax’s palm off his brother’s head and winced at the sight. “Ow.”

“Are you in need of medical attention-”

“Just an expression, I’m good Baymax,” Tadashi said, placing Baymax’s palm back on his brother’s head. “Just concentrate on my brother’s recovery." 

"I'm right here guys," Hiro sighed. "And I just have a bruise. It's nothing major. In fact, you can stop with the cooling pad, Baymax." He brushed the hand off his head.

Baymax's head tilted and he blinked. "I cannot deactivate until you say 'you are satisfied with your care.’”

"What?" Hiro asked, looking up at Baymax questioningly.

"I said, I cannot deactivate-”

"Why would I want you to deactivate?"

Baymax tilted his head in the other direction. “Are you not satisfied with your care?”

"I am satisfi- Wait. I mean, I’m not satisfied.”

“Scanning-”

“I meant, you should stick around. You can just hang out with us. For uh…” Hiro said, unconsciously looking at Tadashi for help.

"Maintenance and upgrades,” Tadashi quickly filled in. “But yeah, it’s no problem if you stick around Baymax.” He said, sending his younger brother a smile. Hiro returned the smile. “Although.. why don’t you go charge first.” 

Baymax moved his head in what looked like a nod and walked back to his case. Hiro watched Baymax charge, while Tadashi watched his brother watch Baymax. 

"Say, what kind of battery does he use?" Hiro asked.

"Lithium ion." Tadashi answered.

"You know, supercapacitors would charge much faster.”

"Huh. We could probably do a design right now. Why don't you open up his designs,?" Tadashi gestured to his computer. "Let me grab another chair." 

Hiro did just that as Tadashi went to get another chair. He scanned Baymax’s specs, but his concentration broke when he heard a familiar squeaking moving towards him. Hiro watched as Baymax slowly walked towards him, then stopped at his side. "Okay, let's check out your specs." Hiro patted the robot's belly. Baymax gazed back at him.

-000-

“By the way, how did you injure yourself?”

“What?” Hiro looked over at his brother. 

“How did you injure yourself?” Tadashi asked again. He had stopped working on the designs and instead had his full attention on Hiro. 

Hiro chuckled nervously saying, “It’s nothing-”

However, Baymax started, “Hiro had a-”

“It was nothing!” Hiro said louder, trying to drown Baymax out. Tadashi gave Hiro a look. “It was.. stupid. That’s all. I dropped a part under the desk, went to go get it, there was an explosion, and I hit my head on the desk.”

“Then I activated.” Baymax added. 

“Yup, that’s it.” Hiro finished with a nod, before he returned to his work.

Tadashi nodded at the explanation, then thought about it. “Explosion?” He asked.

Hiro paused and looked back at his brother. “Yeah, it was super loud. Didn’t you hear it?” 

Tadashi shook his head no. “It must have been in the main lab, you get used to it. I was with my Professors discussing some things.”

“Oh.” Hiro said casually. 

On the outside, Hiro looked like he was getting back into their project. Inwardly, he was thrilled that his brother wasn’t secretly hanging out with his friends without him.

-000-

"About the ride home..."

"What about it?"

"Ask Gogo if we can borrow that prototype of hers."

"Hah, no way."

"Don't be so lame, come on."

"Fine, you ask her."

"What? I ask? Well, uh..." 

"Yeah, that's what I thought."

-000-

"Wasabi's shield and lasers were really cool."

"Right? He's put a lot of work into his project."

"Think about all the things you could do with that sort of tech. And it wasn't visible."

"I'm gonna stop you right there, don't even think about it."

-000-

“Sooo… About Honey Lemon.”

“No, Hiro.”

“What? I didn’t even say anything yet.”

“No.”

“Heh."

-000-

"You know, I could go for an invisible sandwich right now."

"Ha ha, me too."

"What's Fred's deal anyways? I mean, he's not even a student here, right?"

"Fred's special."

"You're telling me."

"Don't be like that. It doesn't matter what Institute he goes to, Fred's awesome."

"Okay, okay, I was just asking. And I really am getting hungry.. but I don’t want to stop... I’ll just have another lollipop."

-000-

“Baymax! Move!” Hiro tried shoving the bot, but he didn’t move. For a marshmallow, Baymax was surprisingly strong. 

“Your sugar levels are higher than necessary. It would be best if you stopped your intake.” Baymax said, not budging. 

Hiro grunted, trying to get Baymax out of the way of the desk drawer. “Come on!” He grit out. He took a short pause, then threw his whole body at Baymax. Instead of moving the robot, Hiro bounced off of him, into the awaiting arms of his older brother. Tadashi then proceeded to laugh in his face. 

Hiro picked himself out of Tadashi’s arms, but his brother kept laughing. “Don’t laugh,” Hiro grumbled. 

Tadashi tried to stop laughing and was only mostly successful, letting out a soft chuckle every now and then. He moved over to the bot and patted his shoulder. “Nice Baymax, you can move out of the way now.”

Baymax looked at Tadashi, but didn’t move. His head did a quick up-down. “Tadashi, your levels are also high. It would be best if you stopped your intake.”

Tadashi gaped at him, as Hiro started laughing. “Baymax!” 

“You heard him, bro,” Hiro said in between laughs. 

Tadashi looked at Hiro, his eyes going wide and his lower lip jutting out into a pout.

Hiro sputtered at the sight, “Hey, don’t look at me! Baymax is the one that’s cutting us off!”

Tadashi sighed. “Baymax is probably right though, and it is pretty late. We should head back. No need to worry Aunt Cass. Again.”

“Yeah, I guess we should,” Hiro said. Even though he was hungry, tired, and ready to go back home, he was also disappointed. It had been a long time since the brothers had hung out. Ever since Tadashi had joined the Institute, it felt like they were growing further apart. (Of course it didn’t have to do anything with the fact that Hiro was no longer in the Academy and had nothing to do all day.) 

“I cannot deactivate until you say you are satisfied with your care,” Baymax chimed in. 

“Thanks buddy,” Tadashi said. 

“Thanks Baymax. I am satisfied with my care.” Hiro said. 

They watched Baymax deflate into his case

“He’s pretty cool Tadashi,” Hiro admitted. It was a bit of an understatement, but he hoped his brother would get the idea. 

“Thanks, Hiro,” Tadashi said, a warm grin on his face. Hiro smiled back, glad that his brother got it. “Let’s get going.”

Hiro quickly went to stuff some of the spare parts he wanted into the pockets of his jumpsuit, while Tadashi started to shut down the lab. Hiro tried to fit as many parts as he could, and decided to carry Megabot by hand in order to grab more. They lapsed into a comfortable silence, though both were sad that the evening was coming to an end. As Tadashi finished, Hiro headed out the door so his brother could lock up. 

“So, that was fun.” Hiro said.

“That was fun, you should come over more-”

“Burning the midnight oil Mr.Hamada?” Someone said behind them.

Both brothers turned around and were met by a middle aged man with a warm smile.

“Professor, I-” Tadashi didn’t know what to say for a second, “I didn’t realize you were staying so late.”

“Well, I have my things to take care of too,” the man said to Tadashi. He then turned to the younger brother. “You must be Hiro. Bot fighter, right? When my daughter was younger, that was all she wanted to do. May I?” He gestured to the bot in Hiro’s hand.

“Uh, sure.” Hiro handed over Megabot.

The professor lifted up the bot, inspecting every inch of it. “Hm, magnetic bearing servos.”

“Not bad, right?” Hiro said smugly.

“They’re very impressive. I invented them, and I haven’t seen them used in such a way before.” The man said casually.

“You invented...” A lightbulb went off in Hiro’s mind. “You’re.. Robert Callaghan.” 

“That’s right,” THE Robert Callaghan answered back. 

Callaghan handed back Hiro’s bot. Hiro took it back, still gaping at the man in front of him. “Have you ever considered doing some work here in the Institute? Your age wouldn’t be an issue.”

Tadashi stepped into the conversation. “Hiro doesn’t have to make any decisions now, he’s only fourteen. And he loves bot fighting.”

“Well, I mean, bot fighting is cool…” Hiro managed to say.

“I can imagine why. With your bot, winning must come easy.” Callaghan replied.

“Uh, yeah, I guess.” Hiro admitted.

“Well, if you ever want a challenge, then I would suggest my program. We push the boundaries of robotics here, my students go on to shape the future.” A soft beeping started to fill the hallway. “Oh, sorry, that’s mine.” Callaghan said with a chuckle. “I should get going now. Nice to meet you Hiro, good luck with the bot fights.” He stuck his hand out. Hiro looked at it, before eagerly giving the man a handshake. Hiro’s look of awe slowly turned into an admiring smile. 

“If you ever decide to come here,” Callaghan continued, “then there’s an event coming up you may want to consider joining. In fact, ask your brother about it, I’m sure he’d be glad to fill you in on the details.” At the last part he looked at Tadashi. “And I’ll see you later, Tadashi,” he said, turning to address the young man in question. Callaghan stared at Tadashi, then gave a nod to Hiro before walking back the way he came. 

Hiro couldn’t tear his eyes away from the man. He had just met THE Robert Callaghan. 

Tadashi stared at Hiro and shook his head.

“Come on, bonehead. Let’s head back home.” Tadashi said, taking a few steps toward the exit, then stopping when Hiro didn’t move. Hiro managed to rip his eyes away from his idol and started to follow after his brother. 

The two stayed silent, as they headed back. 

As they descended the steps of the Institute, Hiro stopped to look back at the building. He burst out, “I have to go here! If, if, I don’t go to this nerd Institute then I’m going to lose my mind. How do I get in, Tadashi?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments - 
> 
> 1) “Tic,” is slang. A lot of the young generation says “tic,” instead of “second.” I’ve heard this terms used a lot in quite a few things, but I think the first time I’ve seen it used is with the Akaelae webcomic series. 
> 
> 2) I’ve been doing very little introspection in my fic, because so far we’ve only explored what’s in the movie. If there are any parts that are not in the movie, I will try to add more.
> 
> 3) I hope I made it clear, so for the parts that are only dialogue, Hiro always speaks first. Then Tadashi speaks, the it goes back to Hiro, and so on and so forth.
> 
> 4) http://usagiko-jovi.deviantart.com/art/BH6-Begging-and-Being-Desperate-496271761
> 
> Usagiko-JOvi’s art is what imagine whenever one of the brother’s look sad at the other. 
> 
> -000-
> 
> Author’s Notes - 
> 
> I enjoyed writing this chapter a lot, especially the interaction between Baymax and Hiro. I hope I conveyed how the two had this easy connection with each other. I was originally going to make this a part of the previous chapter, but I thought it deserved it’s own chapter. (Then I was surprised, because this chapter turned out much longer than I was expecting, like, more than twice as long. It’s so much longer, I was expecting this chapter to be shorter than the first one.)
> 
> I hope you enjoyed the chapter, feel free to leave a comment :)


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Beta Read - Shaitan Elnifi
> 
> Chapter Date Published - 4/2/2015

**Day 0** (the following morning):

“Why didn’t you tell me you had THE Robert Callaghan teaching at your Institute!?!” Hiro exclaimed. Again. He was frantically pacing, working himself into a frenzy.

Tadashi rolled his eyes, “Well-”

“I mean, you couldn’t have said, ‘Hello Professor Robert Callaghan, this is my younger and smarter brother, Hiro?’” 

“Hah, I-”

“Actually, I guess you did talk to him about me, he knew my name.” Hiro stopped dead, looking over at Tadashi. “He. Knew. My. Name. HE KNEW MY NAME!”

“BOYS! KEEP IT DOWN, I’M CATCHING UP ON MY FAVORITE TN STORIES!” Aunt Cass bellowed up at Hiro. 

Hiro immediately turned to the staircase. “Sorry Aunt Cass!” Hiro yelled back, then smacked a hand over his mouth when he realized how loud he was. He was not about to mess with Aunt Cas and her Telenet programs. The results would be disastrous. 

Hiro turned back when he heard a chuckle behind him.

“Ooo, messing with Aunt Cass during her programs? You’re just asking to be sent to the grinder.” Tadashi said, the picture of nonchalance; laying comfortably on his bed while browsing the Net. 

“I am-” Hiro paused, when he realized how loud he was again. “I am not. I’m just-”

“Procrastinating.” Tadashi finished for him. “I get it, you’re out of ideas and your genius has run out at age fourteen. So sad.” The older brother looked up and caught Hiro pouting at him, eyes wide. “What? Oh, come on.” 

Hiro sniffled.

“What do you want me to do? The SFIT showcase is in thirteen days, I can’t extend the time, I am not going to give you an idea (not that you’d use it), and I already promised to help.” Tadashi said, exasperated. While all the things he said were true, he wished he could make Hiro stop looking so sad. Hiro acted like he had just kicked Mochi and drove the cat to their neighbor’s home. 

Hiro dropped the puppy dog look and shrugged, then went back to his desk. "Yeah, yeah, you're no help. I got that the first time." Hiro cracked his knuckles. "I'm sure I'll get this done in no time," he said, whipping his stylus up.

-000-

"AArrrGhhh!!!"

"What did I say about yelling!"

"Sorry Aunt Cass!"

“MmmppPH!” 

“Well, I appreciate that you’ve stopped hitting your head on the desk, it was getting noisy. And I don’t think you can afford losing any more of your ‘genius’ brain cells.”

“Grrrrr…”

“Still no ideas?” 

Hiro finally stopped smothering his face into his pillow and looked up at his brother. 

He regretted the action. 

Tadashi was grinning widely at him, casually lounging on his bed without a care in the world. 

He went back to smothering himself.

“MrpppharrrrgGGH!”

The bed creaked and sagged to one side. His body slid with it, meeting his brother’s hip. He didn’t move. He laid completely still, even when he felt a hand rest on the top of his head. They stayed that way for awhile. 

Hiro thought about saying something, but nothing came to mind. Instead he simply enjoyed the gentle pressure that was atop his head. Tadashi’s hand was warm and comforting, unintentionally bringing up memories of the past where a hug and a few words from his big brother would have been enough to stop whatever funk Hiro was experiencing. In fact, Hiro could bring up countless moments like this one, his brother giving him a comforting hand. Even now, Tadashi was probably giving him his patented smile. The one that had his lips curling up softly at the edges, and made his eyes crinkle at the corners. 

Hiro felt his own lips turn up in a small smile just at the thought.

Tadashi must have sensed the change in mood, because the hand on top of his head disappeared. The bed creaked again, as Tadashi stood up from the bed-

-Only to lay on top of the bed. Hiro scooted over to make room for his brother.

It was a bit of a squeeze, the brothers no longer young boys anymore, but they managed to comfortably lay next to each other; Hiro’s face still buried in the pillow and Tadashi with his arms behind his heads. 

Neither spoke. Until-

“I really want to get into this Institute.” Hiro's words were muffled by the pillow, but it did nothing to hide the longing that was in his voice.

Tadashi turned his head to look at his brother, but didn't say anything.

“I'm not going to get in." 

Hiro sighed.

"I'm a genius," Hiro said with a shoulder wiggle. Tadashi assumed it was a shrug. "But there's not enough time, I already wasted the first day. There’s no way for me to figure out a project, get all the materials, and make it for the showcase."

"You'll figure something out," Tadashi reassured. 

"Yeah, maybe, but what if I don't? I'll have to wait another year for the next showcase." Hiro finally looked up at his brother. It showed on his younger brothers face how devastating the thought of waiting would be. "Is this really...?"

Tadashi sighed, picking up on Hiro's train of thought. "Yeah. Unfortunately, for those who aren't eighteen within the year aren't eligible for Callaghan's program, unless you do the showcase. It's the Institute's rules."

Hiro went back to groaning into his pillow. 

“You really want to do this.” Tadashi said flatly, knowing it was more of a statement than a question.

There was a muffled ‘yes’ in response. 

“Then why don’t you just apply to the Institute? You’ve already graduated from the Academy and with your records there’s no way they’ll reject you. Then you can apply for Callaghan’s program where you’ll probably be accepted within the month.”

Hiro stayed still the whole time Tadashi was speaking. Honestly, the older brother couldn’t tell whether or not he was getting through to his younger brother. 

Hiro didn’t reply.

Tadashi rolled his eyes, this was getting ridiculous. 

“You know, if you’re having trouble coming up with something, then maybe a little bit of activity would help you out.” Tadashi said as innocently as he could.

Hiro finally looked at his brother. “Activity..? Wait! No-”

“Too late!” Tadashi started to furiously tickle Hiro, attacking all openings; his sides, under his armpits, his neck. Hiro tried to defend himself, he was too late. He burst out laughing, and kept laughing with every barrage of tickles. Tadashi giggled, which he would later deny, and kept going with the onslaught. “You know what they say! Laughter is the best medicine!”

“Ugh-” more laughter, “-you’re such a-,” he gasped for breath between laughs, “-such a dork!” 

For some reason, that sent Tadashi into full blown laughter. 

However, that brief moment when Tadashi started to laugh, made his tickle attacks falter. Hiro managed to curl into himself, allowing him a brief respite from the tickling. With it, he managed to plant his feet into his brother and shove his older brother off the bed. Laughing, Tadashi let himself get pushed off. 

Hiro’s laughter petered off, as he realized his brother wasn’t getting back onto the bed. He pulled himself to the side of the bed and peered over the edge. Tadashi wasn’t there. 

Hiro felt himself get pulled by the ankles, “Huh- wha-?” Tadashi stood at the end of the bed, yanking Hiro’s ankles over his shoulder, making him dangle upside down. 

“If the tickling wasn’t working..” Tadashi started to prance around. 

“What are you doing!” Hiro said as he flailed about.

“Shaking things up!” Tadashi chirped back. “Use that big brain of yours to think your way out.”

“What?” Hiro tried to look at his brother’s dumb smiling face.

“I believe in you Hiro, just look for a new angle.” Tadashi turned his head so Hiro could see him smile, and he finally stopped moving. 

Hiro just flopped back with an eyeroll. Then, from his new upside down angle, Megabot caught his eye. 

“Huh…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments - 
> 
> 1) Telenet (TN) is essentially like the radio and/or podcasts (ones that are put on the TN are official and made by professionals) in this world. To note, the Telenet doesn’t work like the radio does. In this world, there isn’t “television,” like there is in our world. They have video capabilities, but programs are put up on their Internet. Basically, because of the amount of resources and the history of this world, a television purely created for entertainment was never invented. By the time that the resources and technology were available for making the television, people had already made computers and the Internet. 
> 
> 2) The smile I mentioned is the one that is paused on when Baymax shows the video’s of Tadashi. You know the smile I’m talking about. 
> 
> -000-
> 
> Author’s Note - 
> 
> I love writing this fic.
> 
> I just have to say that. It makes writing this so easy, and it comes so naturally. I haven’t been able to write this much, this fast, in a very long time (I know, it doesn’t show in my updates). However, it is in part because this is a movie rewrite. I always have the movie to rewatch, then I can pick and choose the scenes that I want to write out. For now it’s easy.
> 
> However, I am getting to the part where things will change, and I haven’t quite planned out what will happen after that point. I’ll be relying on your guys’ support to help push me and inspire me to write. I really do want to post more updates on a quicker schedule, but I would prefer to reach a certain place before taking a break. If the end is in sight (of part one that is), then I will start posting more.


End file.
